Alberta Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer got heated feedback from local stakeholders about rural crime and its effects at a town hall Thursday.

The Grande Prairie town hall was part of a larger provincial tour.

“The biggest takeaway that we’re receiving is that there is overwhelming frustration with the administration of justice right now in Alberta,” Schweitzer said.

“People feel as though it’s a catch-and-release system and it’s not protecting them and their homes and their communities and they are feeling vulnerable and we are hearing that loud and clear.”

Schweitzer noted many Albertans also complained how the former NDP government was “non-responsive” when it came to tackling rural crime and its $10-million investment last year was “too little, too late.”

“It was a big part of our campaign commitments… to address rural crime and we want to make sure we reassure Albertans that we are dedicated to implementing our full platform in this area,” Schweitzer said.

The UCP will focus on ensuring resources would be used efficiently, such as ensuring police are on the streets rather than doing paperwork or in court dealing with traffic tickets.

“One of the comments that I had here today was, ‘Our courtrooms are the operating rooms of the justice system,’” Schweitzer said.

“They’re very expensive to operate and we need to make sure that the cases that are priorities to Albertans are in these courtrooms.”

The town hall also tackled the subject of vigilantism. Although acknowledging the frustrations of Albertans, Schweitzer warned that members of the public are not allowed to discharge firearms to protect their property.

“The outcry I’m hearing from people is that they want to feel safe in their homes again and they feel as though they may need to take steps or measures into their own hands and that’s what they emotionally feel right now,” he said.

“That’s a failure of the justice system. That’s a failure of us as a government to make sure that they do feel safe in their communities.”

The financial side

Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews, who represents the rural riding of Grande Prairie-Wapiti, also attended the town hall along with Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard.

Toews was unable to say how much the upcoming provincial budget would allocate towards combating rural crime—or if police funding would get slashed—but emphasized the government’s commitment to addressing this issue.

“We’ve personally experienced the effects of repeated crime and theft (and) damage on our property and our businesses,” Toews said, who manages a corporate family cattle ranching operation and an oilfield environmental company with his wife.

“We appreciate Minister Schweitzer doing this tour so early in his mandate and hearing from Albertans and I know he’s heard some good solutions.”

Toews warned that Alberta was dealing with “environment of restraint” in light of the MacKinnon report, which called for sweeping cuts to services.

“That doesn’t undermine the fact that we know rural crime is an issue,” he said. “We’re committed to dealing with it. But overall, that’s… the backdrop of a budget that will be a budget of restraint.”